Memoirs of Museum Victoria 63(1): 97–106 (2006) ISSN 1447-2546 (Print) 1447-2554 (On-line) http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/memoirs/index.asp Australian trevallies of the genus Pseudocaranx (Teleostei: Carangidae), with description of a new species from Western Australia WILLIAM F. SMITH-VANIZ AND HOWARD L. JELKS U. S. Geological Survey, 7920 NW 71st Street, Gainesville, Florida 32653 USA ([email protected]) Abstract Smith-Vaniz W.F. and Jelks H.L. 2006. Australian trevallies of the genus Pseudocaranx (Teleostei: Carangidae), with description of a new species from Western Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 63(1): 97–106. Pseudocaranx dinjerra sp. nov. is described from Western Australia. It differs from the Australian endemic Pseudocaranx wrighti in having the posterior margin of the upper jaw nearly vertical, lachrymal without scales, 19–21 versus 24–28 lower gill rakers and 53–66 versus 37–48 scales in the curved part of the lateral line. The new species is distinguished from Australian populations of P. georgianus and “dentex” primarily by having a different combination of meristic values including 14 versus 15 caudal vertebra, 19–21 versus 21–24 segmented anal-fi n rays and 58–75 versus 72–95 total lateral-line scales. Diagnoses are given for P. wrighti and P. georgianus, and specimens from Queensland and Lord Howe Island are discussed and provisionally identifi ed as P. dentex. Keywords Carangidae, Pseudocaranx, new species, Western Australia, antitropical distribution Introduction from Western Australia include taxa with either 14 or 15 caudal vertebrae and non-overlapping geographic distributions resulted Carangid fi shes of the genus Pseudocaranx Bleeker, 1863 occur in a re-evaluation of the taxonomic status of species that Paxton in subtropical and warm temperate regions of the worldʼs et al., 1989 and Smith-Vaniz, 1999 had referred to collectively oceans with single species, P. dentex Bloch and Schneider, 1801 as P. dentex. These fi shes are herein recognized as P. georgianus and P. chilensis Guichenot, 1848, present in the Atlantic and eastern Pacifi c oceans, respectively. In the Indo-west Pacifi c, Cuvier and a new species P. dinjerra, respectively. Identifi cation the genus consists of a complex of species for which 13 names of the Pseudocaranx species t hat occu rs off sout her n Queensla nd have been proposed, eight based on fi sh from Australia or New and at Lord Howe Island is unresolved and is here tentatively Zealand. Except for the Australian endemic Pseudocaranx referred to as Pseudocaranx sp. “dentex”. wrighti Whitley, all of these species are very similar externally In their review of P. georgianus from temperate Australasian and their scientifi c names have been inconsistently used and waters, James and Stephenson, 1974 concluded that only one frequently misapplied. Determining the taxonomic status of species was represented but observed that some collections some disjunct and sympatric populations (e.g., Yamaoka et al., from southern Australia contained two groups of fi sh each 1991; Masuda et al., 1995) will probably require both having either 24 or 25 total vertebrae and different proportions morphological and molecular data. Unraveling the evolutionary (body depth, snout/head lengths and eye diameter). Re- history of these carangids is also challenging because they have examination of most of the specimens available for their study antitropical distributions that are not easily explained (Briggs, revealed that all of those with 24 vertebrae are P. wrighti 1987) and is confounded by the Miocene origins of Indo-Pacifi c (species not mentioned by them) and that those with 25 vertebrae coral reef fi sh biodiversity, which predates Pleistocene are P. georgianus. Although James and Stephenson, 1974 failed glaciations (Read et al., 2006). to appreciate a number of additional characters that distinguish In the course of acquiring vertebral counts from a large these two species, they correctly reported that specimens from series of Pseudocaranx from many localities, we observed that Norfolk and Kermadec (Raoul) Is. consistently have 14 caudal all specimens from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean have 15 (24 total) vertebrae, as do most of those from North Cape, New caudal vertebrae and those from many relatively isolated Zealand. Determination of the taxonomic status of these locations in the Indo-Pacifi c consistently have either 14 or 15 extralimital fi sh is beyond the scope of the present study; caudal vertebrae. The discovery that Pseudocaranx species however, they defi nitely are neither P. dinjerra nor P. wrighti. 98 William F. Smith-Vaniz and Howard L. Jelks Material and methods et al., 1986 and Gushiken, 1988 assign to the monotypic genus Kaiwarinus Suzuki, 1962, are exceptional in having very poorly Museum abbreviations follow Leviton et al., 1985. In the developed inferior vertebral foramina, and may be a sister taxa. material examined sections, specimen sizes are given as mm fork length (FL) and cleared and stained specimens are indicated as “C&S”; parenthetical expressions present number of Key to Australian species of Pseudocaranx specimens, if more than one, followed by size range. Localities 1. Posterior margin of upper jaw canted posteroventrally (fi g. are abbreviated and listed by major geographic areas. Scutes are 1A); scales present on lachrymal; lower limb gill rakers defi ned as scales that have a raised horizontal ridge on their 24–28; scales in curved portion of lateral line 37–48 posterior margin with a small to moderate projecting spine ending in a point not exceeding a 120° angle. All scutes are (eastern Bass Strait to Exmouth Gulf, WA) P. wrighti counted, including those on the caudal-fi n base. Pectoral-ray — Posterior margin of upper jaw nearly vertical (fi g. 1B); no counts do not include the dorsal-most spine-like element. Gill- scales on lachrymal; lower limb gill rakers 19–23 (except raker counts are from the fi rst gill arch (usually on the right 24–27 in fi sh from Qld and Lord Howe I., where P. wrighti side), with the raker at the angle included in the lower-limb does not occur); scales in curved portion of lateral line count; rudimentary gill rakers are defi ned as tubercles or short 53–80 2 rakers with the diameter of their bases greater than their height. 2. Segmented anal-fi n rays 19–21; total lateral-line scales Measurements were analyzed using a sheared principal 58–75, rarely >71; caudal vertebrae 14 (Houtman Abrolhos component analysis (PCA) following Rohlf and Bookstein, to North West Cape, WA) P. dinjerra 1987. The following 22 point-to-point measurements were taken — Segmented anal-fi n rays 21–24 (rarely 21); total lateral-line for the relatively few specimens ≥ 200 mm FL: fork length (FL) scales 72–95, rarely <74; caudal vertebrae 15 3 from tip of snout to tip of shortest median caudal-fi n ray; snout 3. Lower limb and total gill rakers 19–23 and 28–35 (rarely to origin of fi rst dorsal fi n (D1O); snout to origin of second 35), respectively (New Zealand and NSW to Lancelin I., dorsal fi n (D2O); snout to origin of pelvic fi n (P2O); snout to WA) P. georgianus origin of fi rst anal-fi n spine (A1O); length of dorsal-fi n base; — Lower limb and total gill rakers 24–27 and 36–41 (rarely length of anal-fi n base; D1O to P2O; D1O to origin of second 36), respectively (southern Qld, Australia and Lord Howe dorsal fi n (A2O); D2O to A2O; D2O to A1O; height of dorsal- I.) P. sp. “dentex” fi n lobe; height of anal-fi n lobe; pelvic fi n length; pectoral fi n length; length of curved part of lateral line (CLL), measured as Pseudocaranx dinjerra sp. nov. a cord (straight-line distance) of the arch extending from the Figures 2, 3A, 4, 5; Tables 1–3 upper edge of the opercle to its junction with the straight part; length of straight part of lateral line (SLL), measured from its Pseudocaranx dentex (non Bloch and Schneider) in: Allen and junction with the curved part to its termination on the caudal-fi n Swainston, 1988: 74, fi g. 447 (misident., in part, brief descr.) in: base (end of last scute); head length from tip of snout to posterior Hutchins, 1990: 270 (listed; Shark Bay); Hutchins, 1997: 247 (listed; margin of the opercular fl ap; postorbital head length from Houtman Abrolhos). posterior margin of orbit to posterior margin of the opercular Material examined. Holotype. NMV A.1962 (245), SW of Shark Bay, fl ap; upper jaw length is from the snout tip to posterior end of 25˚28'S, 112˚27'E, 25˚19'S, 112˚17'E; trawled in 131–139 m; M.F. maxilla; eye diameter is the horizontal diameter of the orbit. Gomon; sta. MFG-71; 4 Mar 1981. Paratypes. 38 specimens, 77–230 mm FL. ANSP 148695 (2, 221– Pseudocaranx Bleeker 230), off Cape Farquhar, 23˚42'S, 113˚01'E, 23˚48'S, 112˚58'E; trawled in 156–160 m; M/V TM 71; 13 Sep 1979. WAM P.22338 (217), Cape Pseudocaranx Bleeker, 1863: 82. Cuvier, 24˚13'S, 113˚23'E; J. Penn; 29 Jul 1972. ANSP 148696 (20, Type species. Scomber dentex Bloch and Schneider, 1801, by 77–92) and USNM 385866 (15, 81–95.5), Houtman Abrolhos, subsequent designation of Fowler, 1936: 692. Hummock I., 28˚48'S, 114˚02'E, trawled in 43 m; Nov 1980. Remarks. These fi shes are presumed to comprise a monophyletic Diagnosis. A species of Pseudocaranx with posterior margin of group, but the most appropriate generic classifi cation for them is upper jaw nearly vertical; lachrymal naked and expanded part uncertain pending a well collaborated phylogeny of carangines.